My new friends

Why is this so-so picture in my stream? Well, because there’s a story (isn’t there always a story?)

I had wandered into the creek bed, looking for nothing in particular, when I saw a brown dragonfly with bright green eyes. I knew it was an emerald, and I didn’t have any in my collection, so I watched it until it landed and began sneaking up on it. It did let me get close, but the lighting was terrible, and I use the flash so rarely that I didn’t even think about turning it on. When the dragon had had enough of me, he flew away, and I looked through the shots I got. Every one of them was terrible! I’ve watched emeralds before, and they do a lot of flying before they land, so I sighed, cursed my stupidity and decided to find something else to shoot.

As I was walking up the creek bed, I saw what was either the same dragonfly, or one of the same species. I looked at it and said, "Oh, just forget it. I know you’re not going to land and it’s too hot to chase you. Go away." The little dragon not only didn’t go away, it followed me, then flew ahead, and landed. I congratulated myself on my good luck, then slowly walked toward the spot where he had perched. He didn’t seem fazed by my presence at all, and allowed me to happily snap away (flash on this time), just inches away from him. As I was shooting, I saw something moving in the periphery of my vision, and turned my head to look. A second mocha emerald had landed less than a foot away from the first, and didn’t seem at all troubled by my presence, or the camera’s flash. They both stayed right there and let me take picture after picture; they turned their heads to look at me, but it was almost as if they were saying, "Aw, it was just a joke. We wouldn’t really leave you without our species in your collection. No need to grumble; we’re right here, posed and waiting."